Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic wished citizens a merry Christmas on Wednesday, saying the government would work with commitment to make society better, reduce tensions and divisions, and so that the Christian principle of solidarity was part of every public policy.

“One of the main arguments with which we embarked on our term a few years ago has been to see that the state and our institutions function well, that the economy be advanced, that the Christian principle of solidarity pervade all public policies,” he told reporters after Christmas Mass outside Zagreb Cathedral.

Wishing a merry Christmas, Plenkovic said it was a big Christian holiday, a time everyone wanted to spend with their families.

He would not comment on political matters nor polls ahead of the presidential election runoff. “A new match is on and we’ll play all the way.”

Reporters asked if President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, his HDZ party’s candidate for re-election, was campaigning, given that she first said one should refrain from politics during the holidays, yet invited the press to cover her visit to Zagreb’s Dolac farmers’ market yesterday as well as Midnight Mass.

Plenkovic said “one should distinguish between the campaign and events on Christmas Eve and Christmas.”